Faith-Based Campaign to Give Final Push on Health Reform

Tens of thousands of people of faith will flood the offices of members of Congress with calls urging them to support health care reform next week.

As the “40 Days for Health Reform” campaign winds down to its final week, faith groups will send hundreds of thousands of e-mails to their networks in an effort to get people to participate in a nationwide call-in to their representative on Tuesday.

TV ads will also air in key media markets in six states urging people to call their members of Congress. The ads will air in Colorado, Missouri, Louisiana, Arizona, Indiana, and North Dakota.

Then on Wednesday, local clergy, people of faith and advocates from communities across the country will convene in Washington for a lobby day with Congress as well as a Capitol Hill rally.

People participating in the campaign are being asked to press Congress to support affordable quality health care for everyone.

“This isn’t a political issue, it is a deeply theological issue, a biblical issue, and a moral issue,” said Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, at the launch of the campaign last month. “So we are not going to at any time during the debate weigh in on the particulars of policy questions…[We’ll] leave the plumbing to the politicians.”

Since the campaign’s launch in August, television ads supporting health care reform have aired and local prayer rallies and events have taken place across the country.

Some of the campaign activities that have occurred in the past month include clergies preaching about health care reform during the last weekend of August, candlelight vigils and visits to members of Congress.

Perhaps the highlight of the campaign was a tele-town hall conversation on health care that featured an address from President Obama. A high-level White House official also fielded questions from people of faith during the call-in.

The massive faith-based initiative in support of health care reform will end next Friday.